Dreams
by BFgold
Summary: Buffy dreams of Faith while Faith is still in a coma, what happens when Faith wakes up? BF
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: I do not own Buffy or any of the characters, I just like to play with them for awhile. Also this has not been checked over by anyone else so let me know if you find mistakes and I will look to fix them. This is my fist piece of fanfic and I have no real time to do much so expect any updates to happen in the distant future expect for parts of the story that are already prewritten, sorry that is just the way it is. Any and all reviews would be most appreciated though.

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In a town called Sunnydale in southern California somewhere close to LA a school called UC Sunnydale is located there. Some would think this is a normal campus with normal students, but they would be mistaken. Sunnydale is no ordinary town and UC Sunnydale is by far no ordinary university. For one thing there are many strange occurrences there, a high missing persons rate, not to talk about the skyrocket worthy death rate that seems to surround the very city of Sunnydale.

One would think that Sunnydale being a college town there would be many clubs and other places to party into the wee hours of the morning. But alas only on club seems to be in operation, The Bronze, and even it closes from time to time due to remodeling. For some reason they tend to remodel a lot and are not able to keep insurance companies for very long. At least they have live bands, however even that is strange; never do the two top bands play around a full moon.

Then again some think Sunnydale is synonymous with strange. Some like to remember the high school as an excellent example, the last two principles were eaten and the high school itself was blown up on graduation day and that is just the start of the weird rumors what went on there.

Some think the last class to graduate was responsible for the explosion, something about having had the lowest death rate in the history of the school up until then, so they wanted to go out with a bang. However, nobody ever got the full story from the class, just some weird story about a giant snake that ate the principle and who knows what they were doing with all those weapons. It is hard to believe that they all had flamethrowers, battle axes, crossbows, and a ton of stakes. The police really doubted they were going to do a reenactment as part of the graduation program.

But then again there were always weird attacks by the people who were malformed in the face at night and strange animals. And that is not counting the several possession accounts; they really start to add up after a couple of years. Of course, mass killing wasn't totally devoid, take the cafeteria lady; there was definite evidence that she was going to kill the student body with rat poison. She was stopped of course, however that is where another twist in this little story comes in, a young blonde suspected trouble maker seems to be the one that subdued her after the cafeteria lady tried to kill the blonde's friend.

This really shouldn't stick out as ordinary but to get the correct perspective the reader must realize that in almost every strange incident that has happened in Sunnydale for the last couple of years, that blonde, with her friends and for some reason the school librarian was always present.

Some would take this to mean that she really was a trouble maker and definitely had a hand in the events that took place, but the student body had other ideas. At her homecoming Dance they made her a special award and gave it to her naming her the class protector.

Apparently she was credited with saving people from hyena people, wolf like creatures, that gang with the deformed facial features multiple times, the cafeteria lady, the substitute biology teacher and countless others. Her teachers never seem to remember her but that may be due to the numerous sightings of her outside class, most of which occurred in the school library.

All of these strange accounts might seem abnormal to the average person, but to the citizens of Sunnydale all of this is normal, even to the point that everyone budgets would seem to include a fund for incidentals, like damage from random fights, vandalism, and spending a night or two in the hospital form animal attacks.

This brings us to Sunnydale General Hospital, apparently the facilitator to Sunnydale's numerous cemeteries but we will get to that in a moment. The hospital which seems to be either full of people with these really common bite marks on their necks or seemingly empty from the numerous missing people from the morgue, there has even been thought to be a collation between the people missing and those that have shown up dead as a result of blood loss and with those very puncture wounds.

It seems at one point or another everyone in the town has had a little visit to that hospital, even our blonde friend. She also seemed to suffer from those rather common puncture wounds, but she recovered quickly almost too quickly thought the doctors. However, her visit did not happen without the hint of trouble, a doctor was questioned about the methods he was using while doing testing on children, Another of her visits was noted by a nurse when she came to visit a small boy who was a coma patient who just happened to wake up during her visit.

This girl tends to pop up everywhere when one starts digging into the weird happenings of SunnyD, as some citizens call it. Which brings to attention another place of interest, the local cemetery, or should it be said cemeteries. For another quirky little thing about Sunnydale, it has a large number of cemeteries, speculated to be at least ten of them in the city limits. And guess who is spotted taking a midnight, or later, stroll through the numerous cemeteries every single night, that's right our little friend the blonde.

Perhaps we should take a closer look at this particular blonde to get a better idea of what goes on in the little town of Sunnydale. The name heard most often in reference to this blonde is Buffy, some shorten it to Buff or B, however some call her by a very strange nickname, the slayer.

We have tried to figure out where the nickname came from, but one thing is for certain when asked about the slayer in particular bars, people seem to shrink away in fear, oddly it's the paler skinned citizens that have that reaction.

From the information that has been gathered on Buffy, the supposed trouble maker, had in fact given her principle a multitude of evidence since to begin with, she was in fact kicked out of her old high school due to supposedly burning down the gym. She was in fact kicked out of Sunnydale High due to being a suspect in a murder that happened in the library of all places. Her records show that that had not been the first suspicion of murder either, taking care of her mothers boyfriend after a supposed attack was added, however there was some doubt about whether or not he really died.

These suspicious activities start to add up after awhile, from the fighting to the late night strolls through the local graveyards, it makes one wonder whether or not there is more to Sunnydale than meets the eye. Well for now reader it is not for us to know but keep watch for the next issue, when we take an even closer look in what appear to be a closer look into the strange life of this particular blonde teenager."

Buffy continues to reread the article in a shocked state. Her thoughts keep racing, how did this happen, Willy is so dead, how did the reporter not see one vampire in their true form while they were here and when the heck did I start doing Willow babble in my thoughts.

"You know they are getting close to your secret B. What happens when they figure it out?" murmurs Faith.

"I will do what I always do when someone gets too close, bluff my way out of it. Why do you care so much anyway?" replied back Buffy.

"It's not only your life that's affected with all this, it's you, me, and all your Scooby pals," stated Faith. "They will be in shock to say the least."

"Why the heck would they be shocked, don't they know me, by now they definitely should. I think Willow would understand over all of them though," Buffy says over her shoulder as she starts to walk away.

"You should at least really tell them first, before they find out by themselves, that would really hurt Xander," Faith yells at Buffy's retreating form.

Suddenly, Buffy sits up in her bed. She looks around frantically and realizes she is in her dorm room. Seeing that Willow's bed is empty and glancing at her clock she figures she must have slept late and Willow is already at class.

"I really have to stop dreaming about Faith, they are way worse then slayer dreams. Okay so I have been asleep so no way could that article have really happened at least, cool wake up late I woke up late but are already counting the positives," Buffy murmurs to herself.

Getting out of bed, she starts getting ready for the day. Looking at clock again she realizes she has to really hurry or she will be late for her psychology class.

As Buffy walked to class she thought about the various dreams she had shared with Faith since Faith went into the coma. At first the conversations were very abstract then they became more personal. They had talked about what had happened and why. Some personal feelings had come out and they were slowly working through those. Finally they had come to an understanding, but Buffy didn't know whether or not that Faith will remember anything when or if she wakes up.

The latest dream was slightly puzzling though, obviously the article didn't really happen so what could her friends find out about that they didn't already know. Maybe it ahs something to do with the dreams her and the dark slayer have been sharing.

After calls, Buffy and Willow headed over to Giles to see if there had been any new words about those mysterious commandos that keep popping up. Willow seemed like she was slightly more together then the night before, at least in the sense that she wasn't breaking down and crying every couple of minutes.

Buffy knew Will had a long way to go and she hoped the hacker would come to her before she did anything rash. Looking back at her own experiences, getting drunk, she had definite hope that Willow didn't follow her example in coping, especially the time that Buffy ran away a couple of years ago.

"Well that was a complete was of time," complained Anya as they group left Giles place.

"Hey c'mon Anya, meetings are very important, besides we really need to know what's up with those commando guys," replied Xander. "Unfortunately we know nothing and therefore had a meeting that stated we know nothing, but I got a doughnut so all is good in the world."

"Xander has a doughnut so all is good, yeah that was the only reason we had the meeting so Xander could be feed," says Buffy as her and Willow part from Xander and Anya to head back to their dorm room.

Willow stays out of the conversation, her thoughts are too occupied by a certain werewolf to deal with the importance of any meetings, especially ones that she had barely paid attention to, to begin with. The thoughts of why Oz left her keep circling in her mind, not wanting to leave her alone. She just didn't understand how he could have left her if he really loved her.

As they near their dorm, Buffy tries to get Willow's attention but she seemed to be in her own world. Oh well I will leave her be, thought the slayer, it's a good thing I don't have to go on patrol tonight since the vamp action ahs been toned down somewhat lately.

"Hey Will, do you want to do anything tonight?" Buffy asks as they enter their room. "I have no slayage requirement so I'm all with the freeness."

"No that's okay, I have some homework I want to get done," replied the hacker quietly as she glanced at the pile of books on her desk. "I really should have done it last night but with everything else that did happen it didn't happen."

"Okay I guess I can do some homework for once," Buffy said as she digs through her own school bag. "Hey maybe the low population of vamps will help in a higher population of good grades for me." As she looks closer at her assignments the slayer mumbles, "Or maybe not."

As they went to sleep that night both were preoccupied with thoughts of people they were unlikely to see soon, Willow's mind was still circulating that tired line and Buffy was concentrated on what could she be hiding from her friends that she wasn't aware of.

"B, ya know don't you that your great life right now will fall though like it always does right?" questions Faith as she peer at Buffy.

They are walking through a graveyard but there doesn't seem to be much action for either of them at that moment. Buffy looks very focused on thinking about something.

"Faith what don't they know about?" says Buffy, clearly avoiding the original question.

Sighing, Faith turns around and looks at Buffy. "They don't know about our feelings do they?" asks Faith in an attempt for Buffy to see things more clearly.

"Well of course they don't know about what exactly went on between us last year, I mean how can they? Everyone still thinks I am hung up on Angel," Buffy replies. "However, I am fairly sure Will thinks there was more going on then met the eye, but still."

"They don't know about these dreams, do they?" Faith questions her. "They have no clue what goes on in your mind, most likely there are some ideas that would definitely shock them. Well Xander might get off on some of it but still it will definitely come out as a shock to them."

Buffy looks hard at Faith, "You think you know everything huh?" she questions smiling the entire time.

"Well you do have to admit I had a lot of time to observe you guys with you all not inviting me places and stuff and now what do I do, sit around and think all day. I have to say though, B, these dreams with you are better then the ones I have with the mayor. Definitely got a better view looking at you."


	2. Chapter 2

"A better view, that's all I am to you, alright then, I think I can deal with that for now," replied Buffy thinking that little speech of Faiths was quite a lot for the dark slayer. "Besides I think I have to go now anyway. Apparently even though I am the slayer they still expect me to do well in this thing called school, I still don't understand that"

Faith starts chuckling, "Yeah, I know what you mean, that's why I blew off school as soon as I got called. Okay well later then B. Oh and I will spend a some of this precious thinking time on those mysterious commandos for you, I have had some interesting experiences with some military types that might yet yield some important information," she ended with a smirk.

Buffy wakes up to some weird images of Faith and those commandos doing stuff that she really should not be imaging. Why did that have to end like that, I was perfectly happy not going down that road now or ever actually, thinks the blonde slayer. These dreams are getting weirder and weirder but hey if they help at all. Maybe I should go visit Faith, maybe when she wakes up she won't have the same anger and resentment she had before. My friends will probably think I am crazy if they found out though, but oh well, it would probably be nice for her to get some company.

Willow stirs slightly from her bed and Buffy finally realizes how early she woke up. Wow, one day wake up late the next super early, must be the difference some late night slaying has. Guess later I could fit in a visit to the hospital between classes. Of all the people to have to shared dreams with, why is it always the person you tried to kill or is trying to kill you?

As Buffy walked to the hospital later that day, she kept having second thoughts. I really don't need to go visit Faith, she is in a coma for god's sake it's not like she will notice. Then again maybe she will, maybe that slayer connection of ours will recharge her and this will help her get better. I really wish I had thought out more what I was going to say to her, but then again will she really hear me.

The blonde enters Faiths room and is slightly shocked to see the dark haired slayer in her current condition. Quietly Buffy takes a seat at the side of her bed and holds her hand. She thinks back to that night at the Bronze when she first saw Faith. The younger slayer had just finished taking care of a vampire and was standing there; Buffy couldn't keep her eyes off of the new slayer. There was this connection between them that was hard to describe, it was like Buffy had known who this girl was even before she had taken care of the vampire. She had never told anyone about that little feeling that came from the connection; it was like sensing a vampire only less bad tingly feeling and more warmth.

Buffy had been sure Willow had thought something was up, sure Buffy wanted to hang out with Faith due to them both being slayers, but it was more then that. She had felt more complete when Faith was around and that had definitely made it hurt more when Faith joined up with the mayor.

Quietly Buffy started to talk, "I really don't know why I am here, for some reason I bet you do though. I don't get how things had gotten so bad so quickly. I wish you were awake so I could apologize for the way I had treated you that finally pushed you away from the fight for good and forced you to join up with the mayor of all people. Even though I am still torn over the issue I am also sorry about how that fight ended. I think you know that there was no way I could have killed you, I definitely tired my hardest though didn't I. I don't really know what to say anymore, so I guess I should be heading on my way. Maybe I will come back and see you more often now," and with that Buffy slowly got up and walked out of the hospital, thinking to herself she definitely has to go back and visit again.

In her next class though Buffy really couldn't get over how weak and pale Faith had looked. How defenseless hooked up to all those machines, all because Buffy felt the need to sacrifice her for the life of one who was on the good side instead of darkness. She had been so torn that night. Angel dying represented the love of her life gone for good. But the only way to save him was going against Faith the one she had had definite feelings for but never anytime to explore them before Faith betrayed her completely. She always got the feeling when she thought about it that the people she trusts always seem to betray her.

After her class she went back to her room to see how Willow was doing. She knew that most likely she would still be in the cationic state and knowing Will, all she will want to do is her homework. But that's okay for right now, getting her homework done is good, just as long as she doesn't do anything else, more destructive.

As Buffy starts to look at her homework Will enters the room. Looking up at her Buffy asks, "Will how you doing today?"

"Um, okay I think," Willow answered kind of unsure of the correct response.

"You know I am here if you need me right?" offers Buffy.

"Yes, I know, don't worry about me," was the only answer Buffy was able to gleam from that conversation though. Willow got settled in and immediately engrossed in her homework.

"Hey Will, how did your Wicca meeting's go?" Buffy asked after awhile. With everything else that had happened in the last couple of days the idea that Willow had been at the Wicca meetings in stead of with Oz, still had not computed.

"Oh it was okay, basically they talked about having a back sale as first order of business," Willow replied. "Hopefully we will start doing more spells later on, maybe during the next meeting which is in a couple of weeks."

"I am glad you found the group though," Buffy stated, looking closer at the hacker turned witch. "I really hope you do find some others that are into the whole spell thing like you are."

A few days later after a psych class Willow and Buffy walk back to their dorm room discussing the latest topic on the agenda. Riley keeps trying to get Buffy's attention, first at the party then later on.

"He doesn't look like he would be a bad boyfriend," observed Willow, "and besides he stared at you through the entire class again, he definitely has got you on his mind."

"But he talked about cheese, c'mon what is up with that?" questioned Buffy. "Couldn't he think of any other topic at the moment?"

"Um, well I think I might have been responsible for that one, he kind of asked me what you liked and I just said cheese," explained Willow. "He caught me at a bad time I guess and I wanted to make it hard on him."

"Will you are terrible. Okay so I guess he isn't that bad when I look at it all in context. He seems a little um farm boyish, a little too good for me. But he does seem to like me for me and hey no worry about that whole danger boy need either. Maybe having a nice safe boy is what I need right now. Definitely should be a step up form Parker and probably help with the whole Angel thing," Buffy explains. "Hopefully I can deal with him, my slayage responsibilities and finding out more about those commando boys."

"Yeah nothing is wrong with a nice safe boy until they decide to rip out your heart when they decide they have to leave for your own good," Willow glances over at Buffy. "Or maybe I am projecting a little bit."

"Oops sorry with the whole Riley and I talk after what happened. I am definitely feeling the need for mochas, how about you?" Buffy asks Willow.

"I can definitely deal with a mocha about now," replies a now smiling Willow.

They head over for their mochas and a quick chat about random things. Those mochas represent a time honored tradition of bonding between two close friends over really hot colored water, of course there is flavoring but that doesn't really matter to them. The mochas are like a security blanket a reminder of high school that is sometimes missed in the larger world of college, especially since Willow just lost her person security blanket.

During Willow's next Wicca meeting the other girls kept discussing bake sales and other minor items in the realm of Witchcraft. Willow was starting to wonder if this was really what she wanted to be a part of, if they weren't going to do any real spells. Most likely none of them even believe people are able to do spells.

Maybe this was a mistake thought Willow, to herself. I guess I can wait out another meeting or two before I make any lasting decisions on whether I will stop coming to these things. As she glanced around she was interested to see who talked and who kept silent, knowing from personal experience sometimes the people who are silent know a lot more then those who speak all the time. One girl seemed to never talk; in fact Willow couldn't even recall her name.

As soon as the meeting was declared over Willow took off, to make sure she wasn't cornered and given the responsibility to back something. Hopefully the next meeting they will start stuff with spells, maybe these couple of meetings were more like weeding the wannabes from the actual Wicca's, she thought to herself as she headed back to her dorms.

Meanwhile Xander and Anya were once again discussing the topic of their relationship while they were in his basement abode.

"So your not delusional anymore, am I your girlfriend or not?" asked Anya one again. She seemed not ready to let that train of thought go since Xander had said that at Thanksgiving. "I really think we should discuss this, have to have all the facts ironed out. Since my attempt to get you out of my system didn't work and I seem to keep coming back to you, I should know if we have an official standing or we are just orgasm buddies."

"Well since you are not going to let my slip of the tongue go, then yes you are my girlfriend. Just be warned I have had really bad luck with the people I have dated and for some reason they usually end up hurt or Buffy has to kill them," explained Xander. "Willow was partly right when she called me a demon magnet; I dated the large bug who was the substitute Biology teacher and then Inca Mummy girl who was intent on sucking the life out of everybody."

"Okay so you don't have the best track record but you are good in bed and supply me with many orgasms so I am happy," states Anya. "Oh does this mean you are now responsible for buying me pretty and expensive yet absolutely worthless items in an attempt to lull me to bed more times then I am usually willing to go, which I don't really think is possible cause I am always ready to go to bed, but would be fun to see."

"Um, yeah you need to stop watching TV with Spike okay?" replies Xander. "And please remember I am currently without a job. That last adventure did not end too well."

"Yeah I don't get that, your great in person but I guess your phone presence is lacking," said Anya as she does a look over Xanders body. "Maybe they just don't have the right mind to be able to imagine you. I am sure if it had been in person there would have been no need to fire you."

"Thank you for that and by the way no body else should know about that," Xander states, adding "just add it to the list of things we do not discuss in public."

"Yeah, yeah, why do we have to have a list anyways, everybody has sex why can't we all talk about it. Every time I say the word orgasm people have a fit. There is nothing wrong with that word, some think its crude to say in public though, but it's a simple physical and scientific reaction," rants Anya.

"It is funny the amount of times you can get Giles to clean his glasses in one conversation but those words and topics are for very small groups of two people not to be discussed in public," Xander calmly explains once again. However, there was a small smirk during the Giles comment.

"Okay enough talk can you facilitate in giving me an orgasm now since you are currently unemployed and cannot afford to buy me anything of monetary value?" asks Anya.

"Um okay," replies Xander. The thought of the Scooby meeting later went out of both their minds.

At the meeting, Buffy and Willow are looking through books trying to find some kind of spell to use on Spike, who had been locked up in the bathroom since the Thanksgiving incident. He was currently yelling about missing Passions and wanting to know if there was anyway to see the tape. Giles was making tea and muttering about killing Timmy himself if he had to watch another episode of that bloody soap.

"C'mon just for a little bit, I need to know what happened to Timmy. Tabitha can't get to him, he is endangered where he was yesterday," yelled Spike from the bathtub.

"You know I could stake him and alleviate a lot of stress for everybody right now. Who would even miss him? I most certainly would not and Giles you could have that shower you so desperately need," states Buffy as she skims through yet another book. "Um by the way what are we looking for again?"

"Buffy, we are looking for a spell that we can use to get some truth from Spike. Or maybe just a spell to make him go mute, not that I feel bad gagging him twenty four seven, just gets tiring untying him when I have to feed him," Giles explained as he drinks the tea to try and calm his nerves.

"Do we really think he had information for us? He could just be bluffing. With the chip in his head preventing him from feeding, him staying here with regular meals and always being tied up that must be like a dream come true. Can we like starve him for a couple of days, that will get him talking in no time and you could do some research on what happens when vampires starve," Buffy explains to Giles.


	3. Chapter 3

"Perhaps, but only if we find that mute spell," Giles said as he starts looking over a book from the pile they had yet to go through.

"Okay fine,' replied Buffy as she got busy skimming yet another book from the large stack of books once again. "So what happened to Xander and Anya, they were supposed to be here tonight. This will be the second night in a row that they have blown us off."

"Oh when they called to say sorry about last night. I asked if they were actually going to help us tonight or just make those googly eyes at each other. Perhaps they are thinking that over right now before they join us," states Giles.

Right at that point the door opens and Anya and Xander enter into the room holding doughnuts and mochas.

"Sorry were late but thought we could stop for much needed refreshments and you guys wouldn't kill us too badly," explained Xander as he looks for places to put down the items he is carrying among the various stacks of books. Glancing around more closely he asks, "Hey how come those books I organized for you are now not so organized?"

Sighing Giles helps himself to a jelly doughnut and replies, "This is what happens with research and then the vicious cycle starts all over again."

"Yikes, hey what a shame I have to do stuff or else I could help you with your mindless activities while you sit around all day," Xander points out.

"Welcome to my world," mutters Giles as he takes a stack that is already gone through and starts putting them away. "Either they complain or take shots at me, why did it have to be a high school librarian, college librarians don't have to deal with the Xanders of the world."

Several weeks later, Buffy and Riley's relationship was progressing very slowly, Spike has been deemed impotent as far as biting people so was released, Willow has slowly started getting over Oz by practicing magic with a friend of hers, and Xander and Anya have been their usual busy entertaining themselves self's. Buffy continues to deal with her problems in her dreams with Faith. Her inner turmoil mostly consists of whether or not to tell anybody about the dreams; however she still finds time ever so often to visit the hospital and just sit next to Faith and talk.

"Faith, I don't know what to do. Riley is a nice guy, but he seems such a good guy. What happens if what I need is the badness in a guy to have a relationship? Isn't that where the fire comes from, can I have that with a regular guy?" ponders Buffy quietly to her silent audience. She is leaning back in a chair next to Faith's bed. "I'm scared to find out," she admits quietly to herself, "I think I crave the badness in a relationship. You of all people should know that, after what I did with you, it made Angel look like a boy scout or maybe a boy scout leader because you never know with that. Riley could be my nice safe relationship to get over my last one. But even that is confusing; who was my last relationship, you or Angel, my mind is such a mess right now."

"I am glad I have the chance to voice some of this stuff out load, especially to you, even if you can't respond. Don't know how much of this you will remember when you wake up or if you remember anything at all. I am glad I talked the nurses into letting me come visit you after my patrols at night, lately everything's been so busy during the day, don't have much time to do anything besides getting some slayage done and surviving my classes. Tomorrow night I will fill you in on what's going on in my classes. Hey maybe you learn some psychology from me telling you about it every night." As Buffy starts getting up she does her nightly ritual, kissing Faith lightly on the forehead. "I will see you tomorrow if I can, hopefully with a juicy story about a vamp or two. Those Initiative guys have been cleaning up around here so there hasn't been a lot of action lately. Talk to you tomorrow," and with that Buffy left to make her way quietly to her dorm room.

As she entered she noticed Willow was once again absent. 'Wow she is spending more and more time practicing magic alone at night, could have that she would have laid off it longer after the misfire or her last spell after Thanksgiving. Ack, I think I can still taste Spike and the blood he drinks. I think I need to go get ready for bed and spend a little more time with my trusty tooth brush.'

Elsewhere, Willow was doing a spell, however she was not alone like Buffy thought she was. The extremely shy Wicca was also with her. Willow had been routinely doing more and more spells with her instead of spending the lonely nights in her dorm room awaiting the arrival of Buffy who seemed to be taking longer and longer to do her patrols. That was weird though, cause whenever someone went with her she was back at her usual time, only went by her self was she late.

"Willow?" asked the quiet blonde.

"Oh yeah I'm here, sorry got lost in my head," Willow explained. "What is it Tara?"

"Oh nothing important," explains Tara. "I was just wondering what we were going to do tonight." It was amazing how after doing some spells the original stutter that Tara had had virtually disappeared when Willow and Tara are alone.

"Oh yeah, I was thinking we could try this spell where we put our minds into synchronicity. We take this rose and float it then together pick off the petals one by one. Definitely not the easiest thing to do but we should be able to get it plus it will be all pretty afterwards," explains Willow as she gets everything set up.

As they start the rose takes off zipping around the room like it was possessed very much like the pencil that had embedded itself in the tree earlier in Willow magic career. Hoping that this was not an issue about control again Willow looks around uncertainly. Tara looks unsure and quietly speaks up, "I think there is something else here interfering with the spell."

"Oh okay," replies Willow, very much relieved it wasn't her fault again. "I should probably check in with Giles then."

Elsewhere Faith is lying in her hospital bed alone for the moment, but on closer examination one can see some movement underneath her eyelids. The observant thinker would realize this is a sign that the activity in her brain is increasing and more dreaming is occurring.

"Faith, you know you're going to have to stop her, she is going to ruin everything we have planned. The results will be messy and a mess is just not something that should be rewarded with a job well done," states the Mayor as he leans back from the picnic basket.

"Are you sure this is what is supposed to happen?" questions Faith. "I mean there might be some change in B, ya never know some miracles do happen, I just got this feeling deep down that its gonna be okay ya know?"

"Well Faith, do what you have to do, but you will always be my little girl even if I am not there to see it," states the Mayor.

"What do you mean not there to see it?" Faith wonders.

"The thing she wants the most is me not alive so you will have to deal with that," explains the Mayor.

As Buffy leaves Faith, she does not notice the eye movement of Faith, and shortly after she has exited the hospital Faith sits up. She is extremely disoriented but immediately pulls out the IVs and various tubing that had been giving her body support while she was taking her rest. The fact that she is in a hospital slightly confuses her more, when she reads her chart she wonders why they would name her Faith Wilkins. Then slowly the events of before she went in to slumber came back to her; the mayor with his grand vision, turning her back on the Scoobies, the fight with B. She remembered her time with the mayor, how he treated her like a daughter, he even went so far as to adopt her, that is why her last name is his.

She looked around the hospital, it appeared that she was in the basement and it was slightly deserted. As she was walking around looking for anyone that could possibly help her figure out what was going on, she came upon a girl.

"Hey can you tell me where to find room 115?" asked the girl.

"Um, what day is it?" replied Faith.

"Uh well," stutters the girl, finally she takes in Faiths appearance, the hospital gown, pale skin and seemingly kind of weak. "Do you want me to go get a nurse or something?"

"No, I just need to know what day it is, when graduation is," Faith continues to say.

"Graduation was last June, something big happened, the whole high school blew up, the principal and the mayor were killed, and countless students," the girl supplies. "Are you sure you don't want me to get you some help?"

"Nope I got it just fine," smirks Faith as she proceeds to punch the girl out and continue to beat her, with a slight rage she realizes that after the blonde slayer got her out of the way she killed the only person who was ever a parent to her.

After taking the girls clothing she slips out of the hospital unnoticed. As she walks around Sunnydale the dark slayer senses a vampire trailing her. Faith sets a trap and goes after the vampire.

He yells quickly after he realizes what is happening, "Wait, Faith, I brought you something from the Mayor. He left this to you for when you woke up." He hands her a package, but she doesn't really pay attention to it, instinctively grabbing it but at the same time piercing a piece of wood that had been lying around through his chest.

Finding an abandoned building near by that has a tape player, she pops in the tape and starts watching what the Mayor has to say to her. She glances at her last present, the shiny metal gleaming up at her, and realizes she is definitely going to have some fun.

After the call from Willow the Scooby's gathered at Giles apartment like usual, trying to figure out what the magical interference was. As they were talking the phone starts ringing and Buffy goes to pick it up.

"Yes this is she…when did this happen…okay…yeah we will keep a lookout, thanks for the warning," Buffy replies to the short phone call. She is noticeably paler when she turns back around to face the group. "Um, that was the watchers council, they just got word. Faith is awake."

Everybody seems to shrink into themselves and glance at each other, except for Riley who after an incident including lose of voice and fairy tale monsters had been discovered as being a commando. He just looked around a little lost wondering what with the name Faith could have everybody so scared.

"Will, can you to some place safe tonight, we don't know what all she knows about us at this point, can everybody else stay in places that aren't known to her until we can figure how she woke up?" asks Buffy, glancing around the room, knowing there had to be some action soon or everybody would be lost in their memories of last year.

"Yeah sure, I will just go to one of my spell buddies place. Are you going to be okay though?" ponders Willow as she looks closely at Buffy who seemed to be more in shock then anybody else, almost as if she knew more then it seemed.

"Oh yeah gonna be fine, I will do a short patrol tonight and see if I can track her down," replied Buffy nonchalantly. "Okay we should all head out for the night before anything happens, could everybody check in with Giles once they get home so we can make sure all is well and good?"

Nods of accent went around the group, knowing it would be safer that way even if it did seem a lot more childish having to check in, more like they were in high school then college at any rate. For some reason the idea of Faith being back brought around a whole mixture of feelings to everybody, reminding them that it had been just last year that those events happened instead of the distant pasts that they had blocked in their minds. Anya looked a little unsure of what was happening but she did remember brief memories of a girl named Faith hanging around the high school and then later of talk with her and the Mayor. The general remembrance of the Mayor still brought a shiver to all the old timers in the group.

Finally when he couldn't take it anymore Riley quietly asked, "Who is Faith?"

Everybody glanced around one more time and all eyes settled on Buffy, who cleared her throat and looked downwards, "um there are something's we are gonna have to discuss later, okay?"

"Okay but could you at least give me a brief synopsis at least?" Riley quietly pleaded, now really worried.

"She is the other slayer," Giles responds, looking at Buffy first then at Riley, "some bad things happened and she went rogue, ended up in a coma and now we are not sure how she is going to take waking up and finding out her evil boss was killed at the hands of Buffy, anything else you want to know, any particulars you are going to have to discuss with Buffy, but I am afraid she is right, at this current moment it is not the time to have such and intensive discussion."

"Yeah, I need to go patrol for her now; I will come to your dorm tonight and talk to you then okay?" says Buffy as she looks at Riley, knowing what she has to tell him will most likely not go over to well.

Unknown to the occupants inside there had been someone who was taking in all of this just outside the window. Faith wondered where Angel went; apparently Buffy was making eyes at someone new. When she heard the name Riley it briefly brought up a memory of a farm boy but nothing else, besides thinking that was really random and having no clue where it came from, Faith just shoved that to the back of her mind and went on with how she was going to torture Buffy and her little band of misfits for what they did to her.


End file.
